Can anyone really resist a slice of pepperoni pizza? If you say yes, I am sorry but there’s no way on Earth I am going to believe that :)) I am talking delicious, beautiful thin crust, soft and fluffy inside and a nice and crusty outside. Spread with a generous dollop of homemade tomato sauce mixed with olive oil with chunks of melted mozzarella cheese here and there, but just the right amount so that you get that melting cheese in every bite. Oh an the spicy pepperoni, onions, beans and sage. I mean, can you really resist a slice of pizza? If the answer is "NOOOOO, I said it the first time already”, then please, keep reading, grab the ingredients and lets go to work :)

On Tuesday we shared a step by step tutorial for a delicious, quick (made in 60 minutes from start to finish) homemade pizza dough on our Instagram stories (Quick and Easy Seasonal Tuesday), it is now available on Instagram TV or on Facebook. The tutorial on how to make a good homemade pizza dough was highly requested and it gave us a wonderful excuse to make pizza on a casual, random Tuesday evening.

For the dough you will need: plain flour, type 00 (or type 500 or type 400) yeast, water, salt and a bit of olive oil. When the dough is nice and proofed, stretch with your hands and add the toppings.

I know that some people love to experiment with pizza and make white pizza bases or add different extravagant toppings and I also know one should never say never, but we probably never will choose a white base over the classic, homemade tomato sauce base. We usually combine our tomato sauce with salt, pepper, a bit of dried oregano and a teaspoon of olive oil. That adds that delicious, rich flavor, mmm. Today however we left out the salt, because the toppings are pretty salty. Also, for this recipe we used tomato sauce with small tomato chunks here and there (canned chopped tomatoes), just to add some freshness to this particular pizza.

And what’s that green thing on top of the pizza slice? Well, that’s our homemade kale pesto. Right now there’s so so much black kale (or cavolo nero) on our garden that we wanted to add a bit to this pizza (it is called fall pizza after all). The pesto adds a bit of that fall spirit and a bit of freshness to the pizza. We like it, but if you are not a huge kale fan, you can leave it out as well. Gosh you guys, I don’t know about you, but these slices look so good. Gotta go make me some homemade pizza right now.

Lets get cooking!

ONLY A FEW MOMENTS SPENT IN THE KITCHEN AND YOU WILL HAVE THIS FANTASTIC DISH IN FRONT OF YOU.

METHOD

Homemade pizza dough

First prepare the pizza dough. If you are using our recipe, simply click on the "pizza dough" ingredient on the left and follow the instructions. Preheat your oven to the highest temperature (in our case 250°C / 480°F). Remove all the racks, except for the rack on the lowest part of the oven. This is were you are going to bake your pizza. Place the baking stone or metal baking sheet on the lowest rack.

Kale pesto (optional)

Place a skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat. Chop the garlic and add it to the skillet. Cook for about a minute. Add the roughly chopped black kale (cavolo nero), stir and cook for about 15 seconds, then add water (1/2 cup) and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Cook for about 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a blender, add freshly grated parmesan cheese and blend into a smooth pesto. Transfer to a bowl.

Add the toppings

Transfer the stretched pizza dough to a parchment paper. In a small bowl combine tomato sauce and pinch of freshly ground black pepper and half a teaspoon of olive oil. Spread half of the tomato sauce over the base of your first pizza dough. Sprinkle with half of the shredded Gouda cheese and tear over half mozzarella. Add half dozen slices of pepperoni and Italian sausage. Add some thinly sliced onion, beans, half of the black olives and fresh sage leaves. Repeat the process with remaining dough.

Tip

Always use whole mozzarella and not the one that’s stored in water. The latter releases water during baking which results in a soggy pizza, which we don’t like. Also, be careful not to add too many ingredient or the pizza will be super heavy. Don’t add additional salt and oil.

Bake and serve

Transfer the first pizza to a pizza peel paddle (or a large flat plate). Place on a baking stone (or metal baking sheet) in the oven. Bake for about 5 - 8 minutes at the highest oven temperature. After about 2 minutes remove the parchment paper if you want your pizza extra crusty and delicious. Remove the pizza from the oven and serve. Enjoy.

Tip

Before you add the second pizza to the oven, let the oven to reheat for about 15 minutes to reach the highest temperature again. If you want you can use a blow torch to make the edges of your baked pizza even crustier.